Computerworld - Monsoonal flooding in Thailand last year helped Seagate Technology recapture the worldwide lead in hard disk drive shipments in the last quarter of 2011, according to a new report from IHS iSuppli.

Seagate passed former market leader Western Digital Corp., which suffered heavy losses in the devastating Thailand floods last year. Seagate claimed 38% of HDD market share, compared with Western Digital's 23%, according to the iSuppli report released today.

Toshiba claimed 16% of HDD units shipping worldwide in the fourth quarter, followed by Hitachi GST with 14% and Samsung with 9%.

"Seagate owes its return to market leadership to a fortuitous accident in geography: Its HDD manufacturing plant in Thailand is located on high ground," IHS iSuppli analyst Fang Zhang said in a statement. "As a result, the company was less impacted by the October floods -- the most destructive in the last 50 years for the Southeast Asian country."